What Is The Average Price Of The Cakes You Sell???

Business By cakiemommie Updated 7 Nov 2013 , 7:55pm by jason_kraft

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CupQuequito Posted 12 Oct 2010 , 11:47pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KarmaCakes10

I wish I could, but I'm just "one" of the designers/partners/slaves, so I was told it would be like me taking credit for the whole project. And I was actually told to not get personal on this site in particular. So, I will get personal without naming names, did that make sense?




>.<

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BluntlySpeakingKarma Posted 12 Oct 2010 , 11:49pm
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I'm not up on the whole chat slang thing. I only know icon_smile.gif and icon_sad.gif

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CupQuequito Posted 12 Oct 2010 , 11:50pm
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haha.. It's a squishy face. icon_wink.gif

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Foxicakes Posted 14 Oct 2010 , 1:34am
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Karma, I appreciate the fact that you even took the time to look and encourage the rest of us. Certainly there IS something to be said about location, however. That, AND perception. I too am changing careers and I believe am finally doing what will #1 make ME happy and #2 will be something that, with some more practice I will become very good at. I too, though am at a place where I dont want to chase customers away with higher than necessary pricing, but I DO BELIEVE that if I under price my work that can be just as detrimental to building a business and client base. Okay, so I price my work at what I would LIKE it to be worth when I get quicker and know more shortcuts, have a cricut machine, have an airbrush, etc, that way I don't find myself having to start all over again rebuilding a client list once I DO have all of these things the way I want them to be... So WHAT if it takes me 3 times as long to make the masterpiece that I have inside my head? I won't be able to take as many orders at first. BUT I WILL learn something with every single cake, and that is, as the commercial says, "PRICELESS"

By the way, Karma, would you at LEAST be willing to share what city you're in? Thanks, Desiree

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Michelle84 Posted 16 Oct 2010 , 8:08am
post #35 of 71
Quote:
Originally Posted by KarmaCakes10

I wish I could, but I'm just "one" of the designers/partners/slaves, so I was told it would be like me taking credit for the whole project. And I was actually told to not get personal on this site in particular. So, I will get personal without naming names, did that make sense?




Riiiight... icon_confused.gif

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costumeczar Posted 16 Oct 2010 , 2:19pm
post #36 of 71
Quote:
Originally Posted by bakedbyMichelle

Quote:
Originally Posted by KarmaCakes10

I wish I could, but I'm just "one" of the designers/partners/slaves, so I was told it would be like me taking credit for the whole project. And I was actually told to not get personal on this site in particular. So, I will get personal without naming names, did that make sense?



Riiiight... icon_confused.gif




I can see not getting specific on large online baords. I was anonymous on here for the first year or so that I was on, then I decided it didn't matter to me so much.

And karmacakes, if you can find enough eejits who want to buy a $500 two-tiered cake, good luck to you! Send some of them my way if you have any overflow, hahaha!

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mkbutterfly Posted 17 Oct 2010 , 9:26am
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All of you have me giggling over here! I think geographical location realllllly affects what people are willing to pay for cakes. I am brand new at the pricing thing and am trying to build word of mouth business and create a strong portfolio all while slowly teaching myself the fine art of cake decorating!! I am loving the $500 layer cakes though - I think I wanna move there!! <3

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LouiseN Posted 17 Oct 2010 , 11:07pm
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Hello, I am new to selling cakes in my town, really the only one doing fondant, the pics on my profile are my first cakes, the one tiers i charged 40 for and the hunting cake 60 and castle 50 they take me tonnes of time and my husband says I need to charge more, what do you think I should charge for these cakes??

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LindaF144a Posted 17 Oct 2010 , 11:27pm
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icon_lol.gif

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jason_kraft Posted 17 Oct 2010 , 11:29pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LouiseN

Hello, I am new to selling cakes in my town, really the only one doing fondant, the pics on my profile are my first cakes, the one tiers i charged 40 for and the hunting cake 60 and castle 50 they take me tonnes of time and my husband says I need to charge more, what do you think I should charge for these cakes??



You need to add up the cost of the ingredients for the cake, the cost of your labor on the cake (# of hours you worked on the cake * the cost of your time, $10-30/hour depending on skill), and your overhead costs per cake (this would be the sum of liability insurance (if you don't have liability insurance, get it on Monday before you sell another cake), licensing, inspection fees, etc. divided by the estimated cakes per year). Add a 20-30% premium for profit.

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indydebi Posted 17 Oct 2010 , 11:30pm
post #41 of 71
Quote:
Originally Posted by LindaF144

I just took a 8" parchment circle and folded it down to 1" wide slices and got 16 teeny slices.


Wilton wedding chart shows an 8" 2layer cake serves 24 and a 6' serves 12 for a total of 36. If you're folding the paper into pie-shaped wedges, then you're not figuring it right. See the link in my signature for how to cut a cake, round or square.

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jason_kraft Posted 17 Oct 2010 , 11:32pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LindaF144

Please tell me this is a typo - $500 for a two tier cake that served 25. I just took a 8" parchment circle and folded it down to 1" wide slices and got 16 teeny slices. If i added a 6" on top that is another 16 teenier slices or maybe 8 more wider slices for a total of 24. But $500 for that?? What size cake does that equate to, cause i'm not getting it.



The cost is not for the size of the cake, it's the complexity of the decorations. If the cake involves a very complex design that takes a $20/hour worker 10 hours to make, that's $300 in labor costs right there (including 50% overhead).

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LindaF144a Posted 18 Oct 2010 , 12:09am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by indydebi

Quote:
Originally Posted by LindaF144

I just took a 8" parchment circle and folded it down to 1" wide slices and got 16 teeny slices.

Wilton wedding chart shows an 8" 2layer cake serves 24 and a 6' serves 12 for a total of 36. If you're folding the paper into pie-shaped wedges, then you're not figuring it right. See the link in my signature for how to cut a cake, round or square.




Yeah, i've seen those ways to cut cake. I am just a cake person through and through. The thought of getting one of thoses teeny tiny pieces just breaks my heart. I would rather get about 8 wedge slices out of an 8" round. This is something i will just have to save for home and leave the "tinier" slices for everybody else! icon_lol.gif

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indydebi Posted 18 Oct 2010 , 12:23am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LindaF144

Yeah, i've seen those ways to cut cake. I am just a cake person through and through. The thought of getting one of thoses teeny tiny pieces just breaks my heart. I would rather get about 8 wedge slices out of an 8" round. This is something i will just have to save for home and leave the "tinier" slices for everybody else! icon_lol.gif


Oh I agree. Me and my daughter wipes out a single layer 10" cake between the two of us one night watching TV! icon_lol.gif

but we're nto talking about personal preference. We're not talking about trying to impress our friends by politely giving them the biggest piece. We're talking business, and we're talking having a uniform method to meaure our product.

it would make no sense for a paint company to think "Well SOME people like to really slop on the paint, so we need to make a really BIG gallon of paint just for them, and we'll sell it at the same price!" We'd all think they were nuts .... and they would be. Those who like to slop the paint on should understand that the more you use, the more you pay.

A triple at Wendy's cost more than a single; a super large fry costs more than a happy meal size fry. If we are going to eat more per serving, we expect to pay more per serving.

A can of Cambell's tomato soup says it serves 2.5. I don't know what planet they are from, but when I make a can of tomato soup, the whole thing gets poured into my big coffee mug and it's all mine! But if I wanted to actually feed 2.5 people some soup, Cambell's wouldn't give me 1.5 add'l servings for free.

It's just a "standard" unit of measure to help us figure unit costs and selling prices. If someone wants to eat more than that, they are WELCOME to buy more cake from me. thumbs_up.gif

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Crazboutcakes Posted 18 Oct 2010 , 1:51am
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Hi cakiemommie, I have been making cakes for awhile now and I have found the best way to price them is to not worry what people are thinking. I also have some weeks that I don't have orders and wished I did, but am I gonna make a cake that takes me a minuim of 4 hours to bake, and decorated for $40.00. no that to me is like $20.00 for the ingrediants, boxes, gas, electric and what ever else it take you to make it and that mean you will get less than $5.00 and hour for your trouble! Would you work for $5.00 an hour anywhere? Probebly not, so look at your cakes as a business and than have confidence in yourself. I usually charge a minuim of $60.00 for a b/c 1/2 a sheet cake and if it is fondant work or gumpaste I charge for materials and a minuim 3 hours of my time of $15.00 and hour. Our work is very unique and if people want cake let them go to their local stores and if they want the WOW factor than they will knock at your door beggiing you to make their cakes. I have also allowed myself to be very bold, every cake that I make I get half down to keep thier date and a contract with all wedding cake orders. If you concider yourself as a business, people will respect it and treat you as such with no questions asked. Hope this helps

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civilclerk1 Posted 17 Apr 2013 , 7:50pm
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Hi,

 

I have been decorating cakes off and on for a little over a year now. I am self taught and was thinking about getting into the business. Doing these 2-3 cakes per week, what would you say is your average income if you don't mind sharing? I want to make sure it is worth the effort.

 

Thanks a bunch!

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OHCupcake Posted 2 Sep 2013 , 1:42am
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A[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3091901/width/200/height/400[/IMG]. What would someone charge for this cake 3 different flavors?

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kikiandkyle Posted 2 Sep 2013 , 4:32am
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ASame as with 1 flavor.

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civilclerk1 Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 8:28pm
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Never got a reply to my previous post.

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kikiandkyle Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 8:41pm
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AYou could do 2-3 cakes for $80 each and make $100, or you could do 2-3 cakes for $3500 each and make a lot more - there's no set answer to your question. That's what a business plan is for.

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AZCouture Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 8:58pm
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Average $400. Edited to add, that's the average cost to a customer, not what I keep as profit. YEESH. Edited again to clarify that is the average cost for one order, not the collective total for a weeks worth of work. Good grief, if I have to edit again....

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AZCouture Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 9:01pm
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Quote:

Originally Posted by kikiandkyle 

You could do 2-3 cakes for $80 each and make $100, or you could do 2-3 cakes for $3500 each and make a lot more - there's no set answer to your question. That's what a business plan is for.

Yep.

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costumeczar Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 10:45pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AZCouture 
 

Average $400. Edited to add, that's the average cost to a customer, not what I keep as profit. YEESH. Edited again to clarify that is the average cost for one order, not the collective total for a weeks worth of work. Good grief, if I have to edit again....

Haha! I think that's pretty clear at this point.

 

The  price of an average sized three tiered cake for me (just to use that as an example) would be around $450-$500, probably.

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costumeczar Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 10:57pm
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Quote:

Originally Posted by civilclerk1 
 

Hi,

 

I have been decorating cakes off and on for a little over a year now. I am self taught and was thinking about getting into the business. Doing these 2-3 cakes per week, what would you say is your average income if you don't mind sharing? I want to make sure it is worth the effort.

 

Thanks a bunch!

I don't think people are going to post their incomes online.

 

You basically have to accept the fact that unless you work your butt off, whether by marketing or production,  you're not going to make a ton of money doing cakes. If you pay attention, you'll see that a lot of people who are "famous" decorators seem to be doing a lot of extracurricular things like teaching classes as opposed to selling cakes. The profit margin on decorated cakes is a lot lower than other sources of cake-related income, and you have to make a lot to make a decent living. It also takes more time to make that profit. If I make a $500 cake my net income from that is about half of it after I take out expenses, advertising, ingredients, insurance, etc etc etc. There's also the time invested in getting those cakes by marketing yourself and dealing with clients. If I can earn $250 for teaching a two-hour class that takes an hour of prep time I've just made the net amount from one cake plus saved myself a heck of a lot of time and effort. Cakes alone will not make you rich.

 

I saw one baking forum once where somebody had posted a question about what kinds of retirement programs are offered to bakers. I think he was thinking about going into the baking industry and wanted to know about his future pension etc. All the bakers on there basically laughed at him and said the retirement program was that you don't get one and you can basically plan on working until you can't physically work anymore. That's something that you also need to think about if you go into this business. You'll need to take responsibility for your own retirement savings since you're not going to have a boss matching a 401K for you.

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BrandisBaked Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 11:26pm
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AThis is an old thread.

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AZCouture Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 11:29pm
post #57 of 71

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandisBaked 

This is an old thread.

Indeed. But it's new questions that are being answered.

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AZCouture Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 11:30pm
post #58 of 71

Quote:

Originally Posted by costumeczar 
 

 

I saw one baking forum once where somebody had posted a question about what kinds of retirement programs are offered to bakers. I think he was thinking about going into the baking industry and wanted to know about his future pension etc. All the bakers on there basically laughed at him and said the retirement program was that you don't get one and you can basically plan on working until you can't physically work anymore. That's something that you also need to think about if you go into this business. You'll need to take responsibility for your own retirement savings since you're not going to have a boss matching a 401K for you.

You have GOT to be kidding me!

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jason_kraft Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 11:54pm
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A

Original message sent by BrandisBaked

This is an old thread.

Average prices haven't changed that much in the past few years.

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jason_kraft Posted 4 Sep 2013 , 11:56pm
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A

Original message sent by costumeczar

I saw one baking forum once where somebody had posted a question about what kinds of retirement programs are offered to bakers. I think he was thinking about going into the baking industry and wanted to know about his future pension etc.

If you work as a baker/pastry chef for a large hospitality company there's at least the possibility of a pension or matched 401(k).

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